Start-Up Uncensored Podcast #2: Realscore™ Founder David James

Using Demographics Reports to Find a Start Up Location

You’ve probably heard the word “demographics” before, but how does it apply to dentistry, and better yet, how can you leverage it to help your start-up get off the ground as successfully as possible? That’s what Mike Dinsino and John Bertagni discuss today with David James, the CEO and founder of Realscore™. You’ll find a few notable quotes from the podcast below, but to squeeze all the great information out of the show, you’ll definitely need to listen to the whole thing!

Conversation Captured from an Episode on Dental Start Up Uncensored w/ Michael Dinsio, John Bertagni, & David James

What is Realscore™?

MD: David, tell us a little more about you, your company, and what you stand for.

DJ: I got approached by somebody else in the dental industry that was frustrated with the fact that location is so important to the whole (start-up) process for any dentist.  As a matter of fact, it’s probably the most important factor that’s going to determine how successful a practice is.

I did my research on the industry and realized that there were not any tools out there that were easily accessible to people, that were web-based, that could actually bring the technology down from these massive companies down to the individual person like a dentist…that could access it affordably, but still have access to the best data and that sort of thing. So, we developed Realscore™…

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Why You Shouldn’t Start with Demographics

DJ: What I found out when I was talking to dentists, again, doing the due diligence process, is that, most of them, in order to solve this problem (finding the right location) would either talk to a commercial broker right off the bat, or they would get in their car and they would just drive around, looking for a busy corner or an intersection…

There’s a process we go through that finds the right pockets to focus on upfront rather than just driving around and looking at buildings and then looking at demographics. Because, if you start with demographics, you’re making a massive mistake. You got to start before that…I could go on for 10 minutes about why not to use zip codes, but we don’t have time for that. I can tell you they’re, basically, they’re totally irrelevant, and we can leave it at that. (David actually expands on this point in the podcast…he couldn’t help himself!)

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5-Step Process–Going Beyond “The Ratio”

MD: What are the top 5 things you look for…when you’re picking the Realscore (for a location).

DJ: To me, the ratio is first (the number of dentists relative to the population)…We’re also stratifying it based upon a household income…you don’t want us to give you like the top 10 results if 15 of them are in the slums because…yeah, there’s no doctors there, because nobody wants to practice there.

The third one is…is it a good fit for the dentist? Does he see himself living there, working there, does it (have) the right kind of schools, is it the right kind of families, that sort of thing…

Only once you pass the first three steps do you go to the fourth step, which is (a) deep dive on demographics, because there is NO REASON to pay for a demographic study if the competition is terrible. Because, you can overcome bad demographics if you have an area with good competition, or even mediocre demographics. But you can have outstanding demographics, but if that ratio is 800 (people) to 1 (dentist), you’re going to struggle, and that affects your business plan…You’re going to have to allocate 2, 3, 4-times the amount of a typical start-up to marketing…

Number 5, that’s when you go to your commercial real estate broker…

Use Data to Empower You

These snippets are just scratching the surface of everything David has to share. He goes into much more detail about how Realscore™ gathers data and determines the viability of specific locations for individual dentists. With Realscore™, much of the guesswork is taken out of the start-up process thanks to data-driven strategies that are easy to understand and implement for real-world results.

With Next Level Consultants, getting access to resources like Realscore™ is just one of the many tools we offer dentists hoping to take their careers to the next level. Before you invest your time, money, and effort into buying, building, or renting a practice, we can help you practically guarantee success before any contracts are signed.

To learn more about everything touched on in the podcast and how it could apply to your situation, you can reserve a time to have a one-on-one conversation with Michael Dinsio by contacting us today.